Nepal Bhasa literature refers to literature in Nepal Bhasa.
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Nepal Bhasa has a long history as regards literature. It has the fourth-oldest literature of the Sino-Tibetan languages (the first, second and third being Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese respectively).
Here is a list of literary figures of the language.
Nepal Bhasa literature can be divided into the following phases.[1]
Some literary events
Dharmaditya Dharmacharya, Chittadhar Hridaya, Naya Raj Pant, Dhana Vajra Vajrachary, Shankar Man Rajvanshi, Thakur Lal Manandhar, Prem Bahadur Kasa, Hem Raj Shakya, Janak Lal Vaidya, Kamal Prakash Malla, Mahesh Raj Pant, Chhatra Bahadur Kayastha, Dinesh Raj Pant have great contribution in exploring the history of classical Nepal Bhasa literature.
Dramas are traditionally performed in open Dabu (stage). Most of the traditional dramas are related to deities and demons. Masked characters are central to such dramas. Music forms an important part of drama. Most of them are narrated with the help of songs sang at intervals. The drama as such resembles dance in many cases. The theme of most of the drama is to create a social wellbeing with morals illustrating the rise, turbulence and fall of evil. There are fixed dates in the Nepal Sambat (Nepal Era) calendar for performance of specific drama. Most of the dramas are carried out by specific Guthis.
Poetry writing constituted a pompous part of medieval Malla aristrocracy. Many of the kings were well renowned poets. Siddhidas Mahaju and Chittadhar Hridaya are two great poets in the language.
The art of verbal story telling is very old in Nepal Bhasa. There are a variety of mythical and social stories that have aided in establishing the norm of Kathmandu valley. Stories ranging from the origin of Kathmandu valley to the temples of the valley and the important monuments have been passed down verbally in Nepal Bhasa. Very few of them were in written form initially. Howvever, with an increase in literacy rate and an awareness amongst the people, those stories have been penned down. Stories on other topics have also taken root.
Restriction of the knowledge of alphabets to a certain caste of society during medieval era reduced the viability of leisure reading amongst masses. However, with the progressive increase in literacy after the modernization of Nepal, novel writing has increased.
History literature in Nepal Bhasa dates back from Malla era. During that era, stone inscriptions were placed in important places to commemorate important events. Mention of family lines of the person instilling the inscription is also found in many cases.
Siddhidas Mahaju had written several philosophies related to the norms of society.
Legal literature formulated during the reign of Jayastithi Malla formulated a major part of the norm of Newar society.
Buddha Dharma wa Nepal Bhasa was the first ever magazine in Nepal Bhasa. It was published from Kolkata, India in 1925 by Dharmaditya Dharmacharya.[2]
Thaunkanhe (Nepal Bhasa: थौंकन्हे) is the first Nepal Bhasa magazine to be published from Nepal. The monthly began publication on 21 May 1951 in Kathmandu and is still in print. The first editor was Purna Kaji Tamrakar and Pushpa Ratna Sagar was the first deputy editor. It was published by Ratna Man Singh Tuladhar.[3]
The first daily newspaper in Nepal Bhasa was Nepal Bhasa Patrika which was published from Kathmandu on 28 September 1955. The first editor was Fatte Bahadur Singh.[4]
Today, a number of daily, weekly and biweekly newspapers are printed in Nepal Bhasa. Some of them are Sandhya Times, Jheegu Swanigah, Desay Madu Jhyaa, Newa Post, Page 3 and Layaku. According to the records of the Government of Nepal, 20 newspapers are published in Nepal Bhasa in Nepal.
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